More and more these days I see marketers buying “articles by the pound” for their web sites.

By that I mean they go to the cheapest source, buy a bucket load of short articles packed with their key words, and post them on their web sites in an effort to raise their search engine rankings.

Two things they seem not to care about are (1) the quality of the writing and (2) the actual content of the articles (other than key words).

But those two things are important. Why?

As far as (1) is concerned, people judge you by the words you use. If your writing is inadequate, they assume you are inadequate, too.

For (2), search engine optimizers forget that prospects — not necessarily the bulk of visitors, but serious prospects — actually READ your articles for the information they contain and to see if you know what you are talking about.

I was just contacted today by an entrepreneur who told me, “I read many of the articles posted on your site, and you demonstrate an understanding of the market we are trying to reach that I have seen no where else.” And he wants to hire me to consult with him.

This is a reaction you do not get when you buy and post generic, keyword-loaded articles by the bushel. So don’t.